Zimbabwe's dead "cross over" to South Africa!

Zim Online

Tue 11 October
2005 BEITBRIDGE - Authorities at Beitbridge Hospital on Zimbabwe's border
with South Africa have resorted to "temporarily exporting" dead bodies to
Mussina town on the other side of the frontier for storage there because the
hospital morgue has become too small.

Sources told ZimOnline
that the mortuary at the state hospital was too small for an ever increasing
number of patients dying there resulting in many corpses having to be
ferried across to the South African side for storage until relatives can
bury them.

In most cases it was the relatives who footed the bill
to transport the bodies of their deceased loved ones across to Mussina while
hospital and immigration authorities only ensured that bodies moved to the
South African side were returned to Zimbabwe once relatives were ready to
bury them.

.

Hospital and immigration
authorities at Beitbridge, one of the busiest border posts in Africa,
refused to comment on the matter saying they were not permitted to speak to
the media. They referred questions to their head offices in
Harare.

Health Minister David Parirenyatwa could not be reached for
comment on the matter while Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, under whose
portfolio immigration falls, confirmed that dead bodies were being moved
across to South Africa for storage but said this was done only after
permission from relatives.

He said: "What I know is that the
mortuary is very small . at times it becomes overwhelmed because of the high
volume of traffic in Beitbridge which results in accidents, this results in
other people taking the corpses to Mussina but this is done on a voluntary
basis."

Mohadi, who is the Member of Parliament for the area, said
efforts were under way to raise funds for the expansion of the mortuary at
Beitbridge to ensure it is able to take all the bodies of people dying
there.

Years of neglect and under-funding has seen Zimbabwe's
public health sector - once a shining example to the developing world -
collapsing with many hospitals able to prescribe nothing more than basic
pain killers because there is no hard cash to import essential medicines and
equipment.

State health officials, themselves disgruntled because
of poor pay and working conditions, privately admit that many deaths
occurring at public hospitals could be avoided if only basic medicines and
equipment were available.

Public hospitals are the source of
health services for about 90 percent of Zimbabwe's 12 million
people.

A burgeoning HIV/AIDS pandemic that is killing at least 2
000 Zimbabweans every week has only helped worsen the situation with
mortuaries at most major hospitals filled up to the bream with dead
bodies.

A severe fuel crisis, itself the result of acute foreign
currency shortages, is only exacerbating the situation as relatives are
unable to collect the dead bodies for burial on time because they have no
diesel or petrol to transport them to cemeteries.

In a vivid
illustration of how public health services have regressed on the back of a
deepening economic crisis, the government last year introduced ox-drawn
ambulances to ferry ill people to health centres in some remote rural
areas. The ox-drawn carts - which health officials said were a
desperate measure because there was no money to repair broken down
ambulances or buy new ones - were introduced after the National Railways of
Zimbabwe also brought back 1950s steam locomotives because it could not
afford to run its modern electric and diesel locomotives.

Zimbabwe's economic decline, which the World Bank has said is unprecedented
in a country not at war, has seen inflation surging beyond 350 percent while
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has contracted by more than 30 percent since
1999. - ZimOnline

Zimbabwe's rising inflation cries out for a political
solution

Zim OnlineANALYSIS: Tue 11 October 2005

HARARE -- Zimbabwe's inflation rate
looked set to peak above 500 percent by year-end after racing to nearly 360
percent in September, exposing government policies which many blame for the
country's six-year economic crisis.

Analysts said this after
figures from the Central Statistical Office (CSO) yesterday showed annual
inflation had risen to 359.8 percent in September from 265.1 percent in
August, while the month-on-month rate soared to 33.3 percent from the
previous month's 8.3 percent.

The figures showed a widening gap
with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe forecasts of between 80 and 100 percent by
December this year, signalling more economic gloom for long-suffering
Zimbabweans.

Yesterday's figures came on the back of a warning last
week by the International Monetary Fund that high government spending and
high rates of money growth would drive inflation to 400 percent by the end
of the year.

"The central bank's inflation forecasts are impossible
to achieve. We are now having a serious inflation spiral that the government
has never been in," economic consultant John Robertson said.

Robertson predicted inflation could shoot to above 500 percent by the end of
this year.

The CSO said September inflation figures were pushed
high by fuel prices which rose by at least 120 percent, driving transport
costs higher for urban commuters whose salaries have failed to keep up with
surging prices

Electricity costs have also more than doubled,
piling pressure on private consumers and companies, most of whom are
operating at below 30 percent mainly due to biting foreign currency
shortages.

Inflation eased from a record high of 623 percent in
January 2004 but remains among the highest in the world and analysts said it
will be soon before it revisits that peak again.

Zimbabwe's
economy has contracted by more than 30 percent since 1999 and the IMF
predicts another 7 percent decline in gross domestic product (GDP) this year
- outpacing the 4 percent GDP decline in 2004 and against Harare's own
forecasts of 2 percent growth.

Analysts said the surge in inflation
exposed government's policies saying only a change in the country's
political climate will halt Zimbabwe's economic crisis.

"This
shows that the government has run out of clues but the solution to the
economic problems has to come from the political front, and that we have
said before," Wilson Jowa, a Harare-based economist said

The
analysts said the spiraling inflation would put further pressure on the
Zimbabwe dollar, which is trading three times its official value on the
thriving black market.

Zimbabwe's economic woes have been worsened
by the withdrawal of international donor aid over policy differences with
Mugabe's government, especially the seizure of white-owned commercial farms
for redistribution to landless black citizens. - ZimOnline

Zimbabwe's top milling company shuts down flour plants

Zim Online

Tue
11 October 2005

HARARE - Zimbabwe's biggest milling firm, National
Foods, has shut down its flour mills because of a severe wheat shortage that
bakers on Monday said could see bread supplies drying up in the next few
days.

In a letter to the Ministry of Industry and International
Trade a copy of which was seen by ZimOnline, National Foods financial
director John Pilgrim said the firm that employs several hundred people had
as of October 10, 2005 shut down its flour making plants in Harare and
Bulawayo.

Pilgrim said the decision to shut down the plants was
taken after the last 400 tonnes of wheat had been milled last Saturday while
there were no indications of further supplies from the government's Grain
Marketing Board (GMB).

"We have not received orders from GMB
and therefore our Harare and Bulawayo mills will be closed from Monday 10
October 2005 until we receive further wheat allocations," read part of
Pilgrim's letter that was sent to Industry Ministry on October
6.

Industry sources said National Foods, which controls a 70
percent share of the flour market, was the only milling company that until
now was still supplying most bakers.

The second biggest miller
Blue Ribbons Foods stopped milling two weeks ago after running out of wheat
while Victoria Foods, which is the third biggest miller, was said to have a
few more tonnes of wheat left in stock.

National Bakers Association
executive member David Govere said the wheat shortage had grounded the flour
making industry and warned Zimbabwe could run out of bread in the coming
weeks.

Bread, which sells for about Z$28 000 or slightly above US$1
a standard loaf, was already in short supply in the country.

Govere said: "What I knew was that only National Foods was left with a
substantial tonnage of wheat and they were also very few stocks at Victoria
Foods. As for Blue Ribbons, they have not milled anything for the past two
weeks."

Both GMB boss Samuel Muvuti and Industry Minister Obert
Mpofu could not be reached for comment on the matter.

Zimbabwe
consumes 30 000 tonnes of wheat every month. The country used to grow about
90 percent of its wheat requirement with the remainder that was imported
being used mainly to mix with locally produced wheat to improve flour
quality.

But Zimbabwe has been unable to produce enough wheat since
President Robert Mugabe began seizing farms from whites giving them to
landless black villagers who have failed to maintain production because they
lack skills and inputs.

In addition to wheat, Zimbabwe is also
facing acute shortages of the main staple maize. An estimated four million
people out of the country's population of 12 million people could starve
unless more than a million tonnes of food aid is urgently supplied. -
ZimOnline

ZANU PF may go it alone in Senate poll

Zim Online

Tue 11 October
2005

HARARE - The Zimbabwe government will go it alone in Senate
elections next month if the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party decides to boycott the polls, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa
told ZimOnline on Monday.

"We don't force people to participate
in our senatorial elections. People are free to participate or not to
participate in the elections . that is how democracy works," said
Chinamasa.

The MDC, which poses the greatest electoral challenge to
President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party, is undecided over
whether to contest the polls with the opposition party's leader Morgan
Tsvangirai saying the polls will be rigged by the government.

The opposition party accuses Mugabe and his government of stealing elections
in the past five years.

Tsvangirai, who told supporters at rallies
last weekend that his party would decide by Wednesday whether to participate
in the November 26 poll, also says the elections are a waste of resources at
a time Zimbabwe is grappling severe food shortages.

But there
are many within the MDC who argue that the party, which has 41 legislators
in the lower chamber of Parliament, should not give up political space to
Mugabe and ZANU PF by boycotting the senate polls.

They also say it
would be pointless for the MDC to sit in one chamber and boycott the other
chamber of the same Parliament.

Mugabe, who will appoint six of the
66 senators, has publicly said he wants to use the second chamber to appease
disgruntled lieutenants in his ZANU PF party by awarding them seats
there.

Unconfirmed reports say Mugabe wants the Senate as part of a
complicated process to appoint his successor in two years' time and that the
upper chamber, which was abolished more than 10 years ago, would be scrapped
again after five years. - ZimOnline

Zimbabwe deploys state secret agents on farm

Zim Online

Tue 11 October
2005

CHINHOYI - About 78 families which have been ordered off
Hunyani Farm in Chinhoyi town about 120km north-west of the capital Harare
are living in fear after the government allegedly deployed state security
agents on the farm.

The families, who occupied the farm at the
height of farm invasions five years ago, were last week served with notices
to vacate the farm because the government says it wants to build an
agricultural research station at the farm.

Some of the families
told ZimOnline the government had followed up by deploying agents of its
dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) to monitor movements at the
farm.

The CIO agents, accused by church and human rights groups of
torturing and murdering perceived government opponents, are harassing the
families and threatening them with unspecified punishment if they do not
vacate the farm.

"I am not sure who to speak to on my plight as
they are here (CIO agents) round the clock. Their prime suspects are
relatives from urban centres who they accuse of supporting the opposition,"
said Rhodia Zvipere, who lives at Hunyani with her family.

Another resident, Petros Pakare, said: "We were told by Governor (of
Mashonaland West province in which the farm is located) Nelson Samkange that
we have to move out to pave way for the new research centre but we have
nowhere to go."

State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who is
in charge of the CIO and also oversees land reform, could not be reached
last night for comment on the matter.

Samkange defended the
move to evict the families from the farm saying the research station to be
built there would benefit the country. He also denied the state was
attempting to scare the families off the farm.

"The project is
going to assist the country and it has been in the pipeline of late and we
are not victimising anyone" said Samkange.

Several families who
seized white farms often with direct encouragement from President Robert
Mugabe and his top officials have been thrown off some of the farms in most
cases to pave way for senior politicians many of whom have grabbed up to six
or more farms each.

Mugabe has on rare occasions admitted some of
his senior lieutenants corruptly kept several of the best white farms for
themselves. But he insists that the farm seizures were on the whole good for
the country arguing Zimbabwe now has more farmers than the 4 000 whites who
controlled 75 percent of the country's best arable land before land
redistribution.

Critics however say Mugabe's chaotic and often
violent land reforms destabilised the mainstay agricultural sector causing a
60 percent drop in food production to reduce once food self-sufficient
Zimbabwe to a net food importer. - ZimOnline

The sadness of Zimbabwe

Zim Online

OPINION: Tue 11 October
2005

JOHANNESBURG - Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, spent the
spring rigging an election, the summer bulldozing the urban settlements
where it is believed the opposition had majority support, and the time in
between amending the constitution to again extend his rule and again curtail
property rights of his citizens.

Then the United Nations
invited him to their General Assembly, where he accused his enemies in the
North of causing the calamitous state of his country. His country cannot
feed itself because agricultural production has plummeted since white farms
were expropriated.

The resulting loss of foreign currency earnings
means there is not enough fuel even for ambulances - patients in some rural
areas are now moved with make-shift ox-drawn ambulances. The hundreds of
thousands displaced by the clearance of their homes and informal businesses
are now penniless refugees.

It is hard to believe that even
Mugabe thinks he can get to retirement (announced to be 2008) unscathed, but
so far he has gotten away with doing exactly what he likes.

Hamstrung by indecision, the UN will not act, the African Union is once
again demonstrating that it is a club for dictators, and that its
'democratic' actions against dictatorial regimes, such as in Togo, are
isolated cases against those outside the clique. The UK appears incapable of
any meaningful action and in the US democracy support has been
slashed.

Perhaps saddest and most baffling though, is that the
opposition in Zimbabwe, unquestionably the government in waiting, has been
so quiet. In doing so, it has prolonged the crisis.

There is an
urgent need for personal leadership which will generate a powerful rallying
point. This beautiful and once bountiful country is being ruined; people are
being displaced, dispossessed, terrorised and even murdered by the
State.

A third of the population may have already left, for the
rest there is no apparent likelihood of civil disorder or armed conflict.
And without an obvious conflict the impotent international community will
apparently not intervene, as it has done in Sudan and elsewhere in
Africa.

International diplomacy is active but it is, by definition,
limited. Two weeks ago, Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for
African announced tough travel sanctions to be placed on more cronies of the
Mugabe government and their extended families.

According to
Reuters, Ms Frazer said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New
York: "We are continuing to try to call attention to the human rights
abuses, that the last election was not fair and that there was not a level
playing field there."

It is a pity these restrictions weren't
effective in preventing Mugabe's ignominious and galling display of chutzpah
at the UN.

Mugabe, like his fellow dictators at this UN jamboree
spoke well beyond the allotted five minutes, decried western intervention,
denied that man-made causes (other than those from Northern sanctions) were
harming his people and sanctimoniously called for greater transparency -
this, from a man who stole the last election.

His acting
information minister even claimed Hollywood was being manipulated by the CIA
to deliver anti-Mugabe rhetoric in the movie 'The Interpreter'. The theme
revolves around a dictator going to speak at the UN and getting up to no
good in the process.

The International Monetary Fund was preparing
to expel Zimbabwe for non-payment of debt, which has only happened once in
its history (Czechoslovakia in 1953), but US$120 million was produced just
in time as part payment.

This money it is suspected, was
part-raided from private bank accounts on the grounds of a newly-minted
technicality over holdings of foreign exchange. In any event, given that
money is fungible and the Mugabe regime has stolen so much, the IMF has
undoubtedly accepted stolen funds.

The US is taking action against
Mugabe while trying to support the Zimbabwean people suffering from food
shortages and human rights abuses.

US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice met with South African President Thabo Mbeki after the UN
meeting and seemingly encouraged a stronger stance against Zimbabwe. And
Mbeki has responded, abandoning his long-held faith in 'quiet
diplomacy'.

Zimbabwean bank and treasury officials have been
meeting recently with their counterparts in South Africa, who offered a deal
to help Zimbabwe with its overdue payments to the IMF.

However,
since the deal including the conditions that Mugabe should open talks with
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and repeal a series of
repressive laws and implement ambitious economic reforms, Mugabe rejected
the emergency deal out of hand and berated his officials for coming home
with such a deal.

Meanwhile action by the US is in reality
weakening. Deflection and blaming Mbeki for lack of action is no longer
cutting any ice with exiled Zimbabweans or concerned Africa-watchers, and
the new travel bans are in reality a small addition to existing
sanctions.

No one has seriously been calling for military
intervention, but some have demanded far greater actions, including strong
economic pressure on neighboring states, changing trade deal priorities to
other regions, lowering of general aid and increasing US assistance to civil
society groups inside Zimbabwe.

Democracy aid has been slashed
from $7m to $3m for the new calendar year. This is a disgrace, when so much
can be gained with so little in this wretched country.

Who
knows, maybe Frazer's overall approach may eventually pay dividends. But for
now it smacks of the African style diplomacy she is admired for
understanding - no meaningful action.

Ultimately, the US has to
hold the region hostage over Zimbabwe, or we will simply watch more
Zimbabweans (many with HIV) leave their country with nothing or die from the
cold, starvation and disease.

There is also the danger that
Zimbabwe's excesses will be copied elsewhere. Namibia expropriated its first
white farm last month, and pressure on Mbeki in South Africa to do likewise
has finally paid off with an announced appropriation to take place shortly
in South Africa's North West Province.

There are many
differences between these countries and Zimbabwe, but bad behavior that goes
unpunished encourages those with similar agendas.

Finally, what is
the point of development aid to a region that will condone mass murder and
the wholesale theft of property rights? There should be a cost for those in
power who are simply waiting for Mugabe to die.

* Roger Bate is a
Resident Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute

HIV/Aids Drop - Behavioural Change Or Skewed Statistics?

A recent national survey shows that
Zimbabwe's HIV prevalence rate has dropped dramatically in the past two
years, but the cause of this welcome change is not clear.

According
to the study - carried out by UNAIDS, the US Centres for Disease Control and
several universities - the percentage of Zimbabweans between the ages of 15
and 49 infected with HIV dropped from 24.6 percent to 20.1 percent in the
last two years.

Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa
was quick to attribute the lower infection rates to behavioural change,
saying that "everyone now seems to know the importance of preventing HIV
and, to an extent, are trying their best to avoid getting infected", the
Herald reported.

Lynde Francis, executive director of The Centre, an
HIV/AIDS support organisation, was more cautious. The findings were "not a
distortion of the figures - but there is a need for more accurate
information," she told PlusNews.

The government's recent slum
clearance campaign, which displaced some 700,000 people, and the "new way of
[statistical] modelling" used by UNAIDS made the information in the new
study difficult to compare with previous research, Francis
warned.

Distinguishing between rural and urban areas, and between
different age groups would improve the statistics, because "the survey does
not account for mortality rates - the fact that people have died," Francis
pointed out.

Some HIV/AIDS organisations have suggested that the fall in
the national figure could be explained by the fact that a number of people
living with HIV/AIDS had already died.

[ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]

Vorster's betrayal
is lesson for Mbeki

AS
THE political, economic, and social situation in Zimbabwe continues to
worsen, SA' relationship with the Mugabe regime is doing increasing damage
to the bold and hopeful initiatives towards African stability and
development that our government, and our president in particular, have
undertaken. We need leadership that is prepared to accept that even the
parties of liberation can lose elections and fall from
power.

There is no way the Zimbabwe crisis is going to be resolved,
and no way that Africa will succeed, unless President Thabo Mbeki takes a
stand. President Robert Mugabe has revived the tragicomic image of the
African dictator, just as the world thought it had consigned the Mobutu Sese
Sekos, Idi Amins and Sani Abachas to the dustbin of history.

This
past winter, Zimbabwe conducted a devastating Khmer Rouge-style campaign of
forced removals that it referred to as Operation Murambatsvina, or Drive Out
the Trash. And it seems the operation is still under way, with the recent
crackdown on street vendors by Zimbabwean police adding a new chapter. This
atrocity is equivalent to the forced removals carried out by the apartheid
government in scale, speed and brutality. Yet SA's government did not offer
even a whimper of protest or criticism against Mugabe's
actions.

There is a strong case for further United Nations action
on Zimbabwe,but what is needed most is political leadership among Zimbabwe's
neighbours - leadership willing to abandon its fond attachment to antique
nationalism and the doctrine of absolute national sovereignty, and to
embrace the cause of human rights.

In many ways, Zimbabwe is
repeating the history of Ian Smith's Rhodesia in the narrow days after his
unilateral declaration of independence. Mugabe is alone, isolated and
resentful, with only the support of SA to count on, along with the shared
racial and ideological allegiances of its ruling
party.

Despite Mugabe's attempts to portray himself as the
hero of the masses, and regardless of the support he receives from radicals
living in the comfort of Johannesburg or London, few Africans care for him
at all. A survey by market research firm Research Surveys - called, How do
South Africans view key Government foreign policies? - found that only 14%
of black South Africans approved of Mugabe's rule.

In the 1970s,
despite his own utter commitment to apartheid and the near-complete
uniformity of white opinion in SA, prime minister John Vorster turned his
back on Rhodesia in what Smith was later to describe, in his autobiography
of the same name, as The Great Betrayal.

The question is why Mbeki
cannot bring himself to do the same - despite the widespread disapproval for
Mugabe among black South Africans, despite the enormous economic and
political costs of supporting Mugabe, and despite the great gains for Africa
that an end to the Zimbabwe crisis would bring.

Until he does, the
world will simply be waiting for Mugabe to disappear - to take the "Abacha
option", we might call it. But that may merely prolong the suffering of
ordinary Zimbabweans for many more years. It is clear that a properly
managed process of political change, while not without its costs, is the
only way forward for Zimbabwe. To leave Mugabe in office would be a
disaster.

SA can play a leading role in guiding the process of
change. We simply cannot allow Mugabe to continue in power in Zimbabwe any
longer, nor can we permit the devastation of his country to continue. It is
hurting SA; it is hurting Zimbabwe; it is hurting Africa as a
whole.

The world waits to assist us in building a new Zimbabwe. All
we have to do is make the right choice: say no to Mugabe and yes to
Zimbabwe's people.

?Leon, MP, is leader of the opposition.
This is an edited extract of an address delivered to the International
Policy Network at the Institute of Economic Affairs, in London, last
week.

NGOs tiptoe through Africa's political minefields

It is a reflex that has become second nature for many working
with international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Africa -- a way
of surviving in political environments where they are sometimes seen as the
enemy.

Yet some African governments have accused
Western-backed NGOs of being closely aligned to the governments that fund
them and whose aid they distribute.

"Although NGOs are very important
in advancing economic and social development and in alleviating poverty and
hunger, some governments regard them as part and parcel of Western powers
they have problems with," said Andrew Mudehwe of Zimbabwe's National
Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO).

"NGOs here are
treated with suspicion, and politically they are walking on slippery
ground," he said.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has led an assault on
NGOs with a draft law tightening registration and barring foreign funding
for NGOs with political and human rights programmes.

Critics say the
government used the bill as a psychological weapon but was prevented from
closing some organisations by a deepening economic crisis.

Mugabe has not
signed or implemented the draft law since it was passed almost a year ago
but activists it has already crippled many NGOs.

"The whole drive of
having such a law has left a pervasive sense of fear and paralysis in some
organisations, but there are others who see the new environment as a
challenge to be overcome," said Professor Brian Raftopoulos of the
University of Zimbabwe's Institute of Development Studies
(ZIDS).

"WE WON'T BEG"

Mugabe says Zimbabwe has been
targeted by foreign opponents of his nationalistic policies, led by former
colonial ruler Britain. He says most of Africa is firmly on his
side.

He has accused Western-funded NGOs and charity organisations of
siding with their home governments and Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) in a drive to oust him.

"Zimbabwean politics
is very difficult to follow. They want help but they want everything on
their terms," a top official with a Western aid organisation
said.

"The government is paranoid, so fear-ridden that it must watch its
own shadow with great suspicion ... That paranoia has become infectious
because in some of our offices, people discuss Zimbabwean politics in
whispers to try to avoid feeding the suspicion that NGOs are out here to
take out the government."

Zimbabwe has resisted calls to make a
formal appeal for food aid for an estimated 4 million people facing
shortages, saying it will rely on its own efforts despite its failing
economy.

Mugabe says those who want to help are welcome, but he is
adamant that "we are not going to beg".

The United Nations World Food
Programme (WFP) is helping to feed some 1.1 million Zimbabweans.

But
in a move illustrating tensions with the aid community, the U.N. is sending
a top aid official to Harare to smooth differences with Mugabe over a
stalled $30 million humanitarian relief programme it offered after the
government demolished thousands of shacks and squatter settlements this
year.

Mugabe, whose latest political battle cry is "Zimbabwe will
never be a colony again," has vowed to reject any assistance that
compromises Zimbabwe's sovereignty, saying regularly: "They can keep their
30 pieces of silver."

TROJAN HORSES?

Zimbabwe is just
one of several African governments which see NGOs as Trojan horses for
Western governments.

In the past year, Sudan has tried to expel Save The Children UK's
country director, accusing the British aid agency of breaching Sudanese law
and interfering in domestic affairs.

It has also sent a letter of
warning to British charity Oxfam and arrested two Medecins Sans Frontieres
(Doctors Without Borders) workers over a report on rape in
Darfur.

Sudan later dropped charges of spying against the pair, but in
August President Omar Hassan al-Bashir issued a temporary decree that aid
workers say severely restricts their activities.

"It essentially
undermines everything we've tried to do, it creates a virtual state of
emergency and gives the government control over everything we do," said
Wendy Fenton, former head of Save The Children in Sudan.

Aid workers say
the law reflects the government's fear that charities will uncover human
rights abuses in Africa's biggest country -- a view supported by Arnold
Tsunga, co-ordinator of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which works with
NGOs.

"I don't believe these organisations are married to their
governments, but African countries tend to be very sensitive to outside
criticism," he said.

In Eritrea, the government issued a proclamation in
May, requiring international NGOs to register on an annual basis, have a
minimum $2 million at their disposal in Eritrea and pay tax on imports of
items for relief aid, including food.

In July, the government asked
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to stop its operations
in the Red Sea state, saying it was uncomfortable with the agency's
activities in a country heavily dependent on food aid.

Tsunga said
African governments having problems with charity organisations are mostly
those accused of human rights abuses.

"When NGOs share values, and echo
opinions supporting common values, that doesn't make one a puppet or foot
soldier of this or that country or power," he said.

MDC suffers ideological confusion

New Zimbabwe

By Gift
NyandoroLast updated: 10/11/2005 09:29:29WHEN the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) was formed on 11 September 1999, a wave of change in
the governance of the country was astronomically felt in every corridor of
Zimbabwe. The writing was on the wall that Robert Mugabe's regime had to
go.

A five-month old opposition party went on to win 57 seats in the 2000
parliamentary election, an electoral feat which neither ZUM, ZANU Ndonga and
Zapu ever tasted since Zimbabwe got independence in 1980.

Zanu PF, in
the aftermath of the results, became even more vicious to the citizens of
the country, punishing them for voting the opposition, but people remained
steadfast in their political beliefs. Arbitrary land seizures and
victimisation of the perceived MDC supporters by the regime strengthened
from one day into another. Draconian laws were sporadically passed by the
regime in order to cripple the opposition. This saw the emergence of Posa,
Aippa, and even the NGO Bill that never materialised into law. MDC responded
by calling for 'stay-aways' and mass actions (demonstrations).

In the
formative years of MDC's emergence, 'stay-aways' reflected the strength the
MDC had on the urban electorate. Surprisingly as time passed by, people
started ignoring the MDC calls. As if that was not enough, the MDC
encountered a parliamentary tragedy in March 2005. It was a tragedy in that
the party could not come out clean and clearly on whether to participate or
not in the elections.

Amazingly, the MDC stopped the electoral bickering
at the eleventh hour by getting into the elections. Only a month remained to
the polling stations. That eventually culminated in MDC getting 41 seats out
of 120 contested seats.Rumour ran amok that the MDC believed the
election was rigged by Zanu PF and consultations were underway to boycott
the parliament. The state machinery, led by the ZBC had a field day on the
MDC's inconsistencies.

"There is no way Zanu-PF is going to win
the election. A top CIO has told us all the rigging techniques of Zanu PF
and MDC is going to drive the electoral victory home."

Immediately
after the results were announced, Tsvangirai appeared on Sky News, fuming,
saying the election had been stolen. Is this not a contradiction in
itself?

Resultantly the Sky News reporter was left with no option but to
suggest that he was talking to a man without an idea of what to do. Put in
juxtaposition, a video-clip of an MDC legislator also got flighted, it was
still during counting of votes with him acknowledging that the election was
free and fair. Is this not another fundamental
contradiction?

Operation Murambatsvina emerged, but still the MDC could
not come out clearly with what its position was in the face of its
predominantly urban electorate being persecuted by the regime. One only head
of Nicodemous visits by Morgan Tsvangirai to the destroyed densities. People
still wonder as to what was MDC's position on the satanic exercise by the
regime.

This reminds me of a great leader, Winston Churchill, who once
said: "A crisis is when events go beyond human reasoning and
control."

Indeed Zimbabwe is now in a crisis. Prices are galloping, fuel
and foreign currency are nowhere, and medical institutions are a nightmare.
Everyone is asking the question: Is the MDC the party to take Zimbabweans to
the Promised Land? If so, what exactly is hampering the legitimate
expectations of the people from MDC? I wish not to delineate on the question
whether the MDC is the party for national deliverance or not, but I would
rather contend with what could be the greatest weakness of the MDC: lack of
ideological identity.

Primarily, it would be quite useful to the
reader if the term ideology could be defined. An Ideology could be generally
defined as the assumptions underlying human life. This could therefore be
taken as the science of ideas, and visionary speculation that can only be
given practical translation into the political, economic, religious,
philosophical and scientific dimensions of daily existence. By such
definition, and though not exhaustive, the question of ideological
imperative and clarity therefore emerges as a cornerstone of the success of
every political party in the domain of the struggle for supremacy and
governance of any given country. It is this ideological identity, which
expresses the outlook of political life, general attitude of mind, mode of
thought and intellectual bearing. For a political party, it is a functional
necessity that defines the policies, and objectives it aspires for the
governed.

It is a saddening reality that the MDC as the biggest
opposition to the oppressive regime of Zanu PF has dismally failed to
clearly define what it stands for in the eyes of its predominantly
sympathetic followers.

Due to the lack of identity, Tsvangirai publicly
announces that those people supporting the idea of going for senate
elections are "sell outs" of the struggle. On the other hand, his Secretary
General Welshman Ncube believes that it is the MDC's National Council's
party position that election participation is the agreed standpoint.
Tsvangirai says that's a "legal interpretation". It is such radical
differences that manifest deepening ideological arguments, which without
doubt have created rifts amongst the MDC leaders and confused the rank and
file of the MDC support base. How can the MDC, as the official opposition
party, succeed when it is so disorganised and apparently not clear as to who
calls the shots?

What is more worrying is the way the MDC projects the
senate issue. An ordinary mind in constitutional matters would be made to
believe that the senate issue is something very different from the
Constitutional Amendment no. 17. It seems as if not enough weight has been
given by the MDC to critical questions like the freedom of movement,
disenfranchising of voters and the threat posed to investor confidence due
to the nationalisation of the deemed agricultural land by the state. The
voters would also want to question the constitutional approach that MDC is
taking as a political party. Is the MDC happy with cut and paste
constitutional amendments or attention should be given to the due process of
a home grown constitution? This suffices to expose more on the lack of
ideological clarity by the MDC.

Divisions have emerged, the Secretary
General being mainly backed by the intellectuals and the opposition leader
Tsvangirai, receiving the backing of the trade unionists. Does this reflect
a theory that MDC was simply a Marriage of Convenience from a loose
coalition of ideas at its formation? Each group is quick to declare
themselves as the only true proponents of liberty and dismisses the others
as detrimental to the greater cause of freedom. Could this not be enough
evidence to the opposition electorate as to what exactly bred the 2005
parliamentary tragedy?

Tsvangirai should not become a perpetual and
perennial victim of false-glory advisors, some of whom, by Medieval or
feudal politics standards, do not deserve to be in the secretariat of the
party. These divisions should be a warning to Tsvangirai that there is need
for an honest audit of what is it that the MDC stands for as a political
party.

Tsvangirai should know that the battle over political ideas is a
battle of pure numbers and majority, and this demands tactical and shrewd
calculation in political circles. The world over, such calculation should
not be entirely limited to political rumblings but rather demands a strike
of balance between intra-party leadership on one hand, and the handling of
Zanu PF on the other extreme. Zimbabweans are tired of populist ideologies
but anxiously wait for practical results to deal with the Zanu-PF
hegemony.

The MDC should therefore come up with a clear position whether
it is participating in the senate elections or not and this should be echoed
with one voice. If therefore, Tsvangirai fails to control a five-year-old
party, then does it not bring into question his credibility to become a
decisive leader of Zimbabwe?Every movement starts from a losing position
in terms of popularity. What is right is not always popular and what is
popular is not always right. It takes men of honour and courage to defend
principles of deliverance to the whole of the Zimbabwean citizenry. The
success of any political ideology depends on the ability of rulers to
utilise, gain support and action from the citizenry. The goal of Zimbabwean
liberty is not centred on political intra-party disputes and wasting time
having ideas diluted by moderacy: but rather convincing the citizenry of the
benefits of liberty. Once the people are convinced, Zanu PF will be pitted
against a body of independent individuals and be forced to change the face
of its authority, if not completely and ideally, at least in the direction
of true liberty and freedom!

Mr Tsvangirai Sir, without taking
anything away from your most honourable and remarkable efforts in the
struggle against Mugabe, l humbly remind you that Zanu-PF rallied around the
ideology of socialism when it fought Ian Douglas Smith. It was that
ideological identity that made every Zimbabwean in every corner of the
country speak with one language. It is on the basis of such properly defined
ideology that the voter is turned into a traditional party voter not a
sympathiser and is also endowed with political identity. Could I therefore
finish by suggesting that you need urgent ideological definition before you
become a victim of a noble cause?

Gift Nyandoro is a law student and
chairman of the Zimbabwe Youth Network for Good Governance. Contact Gift at
nyanzy2003@yahoo.com or cell:
+26391903082

Hoey demands action on Zimbabwe

FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL

Zimbabwe Vigil Press Release

10th
October 2005

The Chair of the
all-party Parliamentary Group on Zimbabwe, Kate Hoey, is to present a petition
to 10 Downing Street at 3 pm on Thursday, 13th October, calling on Mr Blair to
bring the Zimbabwe situation to the attention of the UN Security Council. It
reads:

“No shaking hands with Mugabe

The latest elections in
Zimbabwe were once again stolen by the Mugabe regime with the connivance of its
neighbours. Retaliation is now being meted out to people who supported the
opposition. We urge the British government to end Mugabe’s reign of terror and
halt his drive for legitimacy:· Bring the matter to the UN Security
Council.· Make it a priority during term as President of the EU and
G8 (group of leading industrial nations).· Put pressure on South
Africa to allow democracy in Zimbabwe.· Extend targeted sanctions
against Mugabe’s cronies.”

The petition will be carried to Downing
Street by Zimbabwean exiles in a symbolic “walk to work” from the Zimbabwe
Embassy in the Strand.

The leader of the Zimbabwean opposition Movement
of Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been walking 5 miles to work from
his home to his office in Harare in solidarity with people suffering from the
collapsing economy. Last week an MDC MP and about 20 supporters were arrested
on a walk to work and accused of demonstrating against the government.

The petition to be handed in at No. 10 has been signed by thousands of
people passing by the Zimbabwe Vigil, which has been demonstrating outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy every Saturday since October 2002 against human rights abuses
in Zimbabwe and in support of free and fair elections. The handing over of the
petition is to mark the Vigil’s third anniversary.

Vigil co-ordinatorThe Vigil, outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to
18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime
in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk

Kate Hoey, Chair of the all-party Parliamentary Group on
Zimbabwe has agreed to present the Vigil petition to 10 Downing Street at 3 pm
on Thursday, 13th October, calling on Mr Blair to bring the Zimbabwe situation
to the attention of the UN Security Council. It reads:

“No shaking hands
with Mugabe

The latest elections in Zimbabwe were once again stolen by
the Mugabe regime with the connivance of its neighbours. Retaliation is now
being meted out to people who supported the opposition. We urge the British
government to end Mugabe’s reign of terror and halt his drive for
legitimacy:· Bring the matter to the UN Security
Council.· Make it a priority during term as President of the EU and
G8 (group of leading industrial nations).· Put pressure on South
Africa to allow democracy in Zimbabwe.· Extend targeted sanctions
against Mugabe’s cronies.”

Please join Zimbabwe Vigil supporters in a
symbolic “walk to work” from the Zimbabwe Embassy in the Strand to Downing
Street. This is in solidarity with those back home including the leader of the
Zimbabwean opposition Movement of Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, who has
been walking 5 miles to work from his home to his office in Harare in solidarity
with people suffering from the collapsing economy. Last week an MDC MP and
about 20 supporters were arrested on a walk to work and accused of demonstrating
against the government.

2. Official Third Anniversary of the Zimbabwe Vigil -
Saturday, 15th October.

This Saturday, 15th October will be the official
third anniversary of the Vigil. We will meet at the usual Vigil time from 2 - 6
pm. Turn up and show the world that you are still fighting for change in
Zimbabwe.

Vigil co-ordinatorThe Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy,
429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest
against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk

Harare rates, rents go up

Municipal ReporterRates
and rents in Harare will increase next month following the adoption of a
supplementary budget by the commission running the city's affairs
yesterday.

The commission adopted the supplementary budget, which
takes effect from November 1, without debate implying that it fully supports
the increases.

Acting city treasurer Mr Cosmos Zvikaramba said the
cash-strapped council wanted to raise at least $800 billion to finance its
operations up to December.

In a report to council, Mr Zvikaramba said
the high inflation, the devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar and the delay in
implementing the 2005 budget, high costs of fuel and high interest rates
forced council to come up with the supplementary budget.

The new
budget will see the cost of water going up to $3 000 per cubic metre, up
from $1 200 for low density areas and to $2 400 in high density areas, up
from $1 000.

Water for commercial entities will now cost $13 000 per
cubic metre, up from $5 600.

The cost of refuse collection will also
go up. Residents of high density areas will now pay $158 500 while those of
low density areas will pay $185 000 up from $25 000 and $35 000
respectively.

Rentals for council-owned accommodation will also
significantly go up but still remain the cheapest compared to those
belonging to private property owners.

High-density accommodation will
now cost between $133 000 and $2,6 million up from a range of $78 000 and
$1,5 million. Low-density accommodation now ranges between $1,5 million and
$4,1 million a month.

Rent for council flats will be increased to between
$127 500 and $2 million, up from previous costs of between $75 000 and $1,1
million.

Parking fees will also go up from $2 400 to $5 000 for a
half-hour period, while hourly parking will now be $8 500, up from $3 100.
Parking fines will now be $39 000 up from $33 000.

Fees for vehicle
clamping will also significantly go up from $1 million to $1,4 million for
light vehicles and from $3 million to 4,4 million for heavy
vehicles.

Storage fees for clamped vehicles kept at the council yard
will go up to $2,9 million and $7,3 million for light and heavy vehicles
respectively. The fees were previously pegged at $2 million and $5 million
for the two categories.

The city wants to raise at least $800 billion
to finance its operations, some of which have literally ground to a halt
because of a crippling lack of money.

Town clerk Mr Nomutsa Chideya
said the council would adopt cost cutting measures that include, among other
things, a strict adherence to budget allocations, relinquishing the
operation of creches and halls to the communities or prospective
entrepreneurs.

Mr Chideya said because council incurred huge telephone
bills, heads of departments should monitor the use of telephones.